The Flu
by tintiger
Summary: Konaha's favorite teacher has caught the flu bug. Who will return his kindness and keep him company?


I do Not own Naruto, Sniff.

I wrote this story at 2 o'clock, due to lack of sleep from, what else, the flu. I wanted to talk to someone, But my sister obliviose to my plight, just kept up her annoying sleep breathing. It was sooo annoying!! :) -Tintiger-

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The Flu

Briiinnnnnnn, briiiiiinnnn, briiiiiiinnnn, the small alarm clock on the bedside table shook its self so hard, it threatened to fall off. Slowly a hand reached out from under the heavy blanket of the futon and probed for the offending noisemaker, knocking it to the floor.

Umino Iruka , folded the blanket back and tried to focus on the still vibrating clock. His brown hair devoid of the usual band fell forward, framing his face. He reached again. The clock gave one more irritating ring, and fell silent. Iruka sighed and sat up, promptly falling back with a moan.

His head was pounding, his throat was scratchy, and he coughed hoarsely. Umino Iruka , the teacher tough enough to take the abuse of irresponsible, misbehaving, troublesome ninja-in-training, had the flu. The bug had been traveling through Konoha. Everyday, at least one student had been absent from class because of it. Now finally it had infected him, hed have to call in sick today.

AWe have a test to take today. Iruka moaned pitifully. He hated delaying tests, it meant that his students would have to keep the lesson fresh in their minds, and the percent of better grades went down significantly. Plus there would be review work to be done before the test could be taken, and that would take up class time.

Iruka debated just crawling back into bed and forgetting about it. However his responsibility belonged to the academy and his students, even if they enjoy the extra time off. They were counting on him!

AOk Iruka, he said to himself, its time to stop acting like a victim. Get up. He struggled out of his futon and into the bathroom. As he rummaged in the cabinet for some medicine, he glanced at himself in the mirror and made a face. He looked as bad as he felt.

He swallowed some medicine and shuffled back to his room to dress. However as he reached his destination he felt last nights dinner forcing its way out, he dashed back to the bathroom. After spending half an hour in the bathroom Iruka decided to give in and call the school. When he finished explaining why he wouldn't be in that morning to the head teacher, he collapsed back into bed and slept for a while.

Irukas morning was spent very unglamorously making trips between the bed and the bathroom. He couldn't eat anything at all. He wished for the millionth time in his life that he didn't live alone, but if wishes were fishes . . . No one cared about him. All the people who ever really cared about him were dead, except for the Sandiame, but he was too busy to visit a sick academy teacher.

A little bit past noon Iruka was sitting on the bathroom floor dozing, having gotten tired of running back and forth. His ninja alertness kicked in, he was sure that he had heard the front door open and close. He stood up wearily and straitened his posture. No one was catching him off guard even if he was sick. He wrapped his arm around his aching stomach and padded softly out into the living room.

He peeked around the corner and scrutinized the entryway to his home. Nothing was out of place and the door was firmly shut. His shoes were still placed by the door, exactly the way that he had left them.

AHmm . . . Im sure that I heard the door. Uurpp. He clapped his hand firmly over his mouth as a fresh wave of dizziness swept over him. Then he dashed toward the bathroom totally missing the small blond boy crouching under the hall table.

Once he had purged his system yet again he tucked himself into his futon. He was feeling noxious again and he now definitely had a fever.

After he was sure that Iruka-sensei was in bed, the boy squirmed out from under the low table. He slipped off his sandals and went to the kitchen. He had come to check if Iruka-sensei was truly sick, but since he hadnt had breakfast that morning he was hungry. He was pretty sure that Iruka wouldn't mind. His pony-tailed sensei knew that sometimes Narutos allowance was late and he ran out of food on occasion. More then once he had furnished Naruto with a cup of instant ramen from his stash in the teachers lounge.

Pushing a chair over, Naruto climbed onto the counter and opened the cabinet. Aha there it was, the ramen! Naruto reached up and grabbed a miso-flavored one. All right now to heat some water and, Naruto looked at the ramen cup in his hand and then reached for another. AOne for me, one for Iruka-sensei. He thought as he climbed back down.

Carefully the five-year-old pushed the chair over to the sink and filled the kettle. Then as the water heated he crept toward the bedroom and peeked inside. There was a lump on the futon and upon closer inspection he confirmed it was Iruka-sensei. Naruto slipped up to the bed and looked at his teacher.

Iruka-sensei looked weak and miserable, a strange contradiction of his normally strong, cheerful personality. Naruto put his hand on Irukas forehead then his own, Iruka definitely had a fever. Naruto reached out and grabbed the covers, pulling them up he clumsily tucked them around his senseis chin.

Just then the kettle started to whistle, startling Naruto and making Iruka shift his sleeping form. Naruto jumped up and ran to the kitchen. He twisted the knob, turning off the stove, and carefully filled one of the cups of noodles with boiling water. He spent the three hateful minutes that the ramen took to cook staring at the cup, then he dug in.

When he finished, he padded back into the bedroom to check on his sensei again. Iruka-sensei had thrown the covers off of himself in his sleep and was now shivering. As he covered him up again Narutos young mind was afraid that Iruka-sensei would shiver himself to pieces.

Naruto felt his senseis forehead again. It was warmer then before, so he knew that the fever was getting worse. Whenever Naruto had a fever, he liked to take long warm baths. However Iruka-sensei was at least twice his size, Naruto couldn't possibly move him. So if he couldn't bring Iruka-sensei to the bath, maybe he could bring the bath to Iruka-sensei.

Iruka woke with a damp cloth on his forehead and a weight on his stomach. He felt a lot better. He sat up and took the cloth off his face.

The weight on his middle shifted with him as he moved. He looked down. There sleeping on his lap, lay his most energetic, blond student. Iruka was startled at first then he smiled. Earlier he had been miserable about not having anyone to care for him in his sickness. But Naruto, the hated container of the nine-tailed fox, had come and filled that need without even knowing that there was one.

He lifted the small boy onto his lap. ANaruto, Ill help you succeed. Ill always try to be here for you, and give you a fair chance. I promise. He whispered into the sunshine hair.

As if hed heard, Naruto smiled and snuggled deeper into his senseis warm arms. ABut dont think Im going to go easy on you either. Iruka hugged the boy gently and smiled back.

- the end-


End file.
